A riding school in Kent has launched a new charity to provide therapy through horses.
JC Inspiring People Through Horses aims to help many people, including assisting with mental health and working with those with special educational needs and looked after children.
The charity is the brainchild of Owl House Stables in Saint Margaret’s at Cliffe, near Dover.
Rachel Wright, who runs the stables alongside her mother, Louise Claringbould, said there was a huge demand for such a service.
“So many people say to us, ‘riding is my sanity’, especially in recent times, and it’s like a therapy for them,” she told Your Horse. “We wanted to formalise it and to reach out to more people, and offer our services to those who might struggle to afford riding normally.”
The charity has three branches — riding, equine assisted therapy with a counsellor and equine facilitated learning — and is in partnership with the British Horse Society’s Changing Lives Through Horses.
Rachel said there has been lots of interest in the new offering, and a mental health group recently completed a six-week equine assisted therapy course at the stables.
“Covid has sent anxiety levels through the roof, the amount of anxious children and teenagers has sky rocketed,” she said.
“Children with conditions like ADHD focus a lot more and stay a lot calmer after a day on the yard. It’s been really useful to them, and would really suit school avoidance too.”
The riding school uses a variety of horses and ponies for their charity work. Quieter horses can be well-suited to individuals who are feeling stressed or anxious, but sometimes more ‘characterful’ horses are useful to those who struggle with communication, and can learn to read the body language of these horses.
“Often they are so much more receptive to work with horses than with people, for instance with disengaged teenagers it can be a really good way to try to get them to open up.
The charity has received some grant funding but is mostly self funded. Owl House recently built a therapy room where visitors can learn grounding techniques and check in with how they’re feeling.
“We’re all really passionate about it,” added Rachel. “Our recent group of adults have gone away completely different to how they entered yard. They wouldn’t dare go near a horse initially, they were terrified, but they went to scratching horses necks to having physical connection with them.
“We also have a couple of teenagers who have been excluded from school and rather than sitting at home they joined us for equine assisted learning and they really open up to us and develop communication skills.”
For more information email jcinspiring@owlhousestables.com or visit www.owlhousestables.com
